Saul Fletcher
21 Nov - 20 Dec 2014
© Saul Fletcher
Untitled #297, 2014
Signed and dated on verso
C-print
14.1 x 17.9 cm | 5 1/2 x 7 1/8 ins
Untitled #297, 2014
Signed and dated on verso
C-print
14.1 x 17.9 cm | 5 1/2 x 7 1/8 ins
SAUL FLETCHER
21 November - 20 December 2014
These lucky finds- things and persons apparently passing before a kind of camera trap that freezes them in their natural habitat only seem to grow in significance when set against the implacability of the wall face, a surface whose material history and psychic weather Fletcher knows intimately. From one to another, the tiny images unfold into a weirdly free-form seriality, and the concentrated mindfulness required to identify not just the state of the objects but also the literal and figurative condition of the wall starts to feel like an act of devotion. - Jeffrey Kastner, Artforum
Alison Jacques Gallery is proud to present our third solo exhibition of new work by Saul Fletcher.
Fletcher began his practice by taking photographs of sculptural assemblages on his London studio wall. Layered thick with peeling paint the history of the wall became part of the installations, created by the artist in situ. In this series Fletcher extends this practice to his studio in Berlin. Set against a comparatively stark background, small drips, smudges and splatters are still apparent on the wall's surface, situating the arrangements in space with only slight suggestions of what lies beyond.
The photographs in this exhibition revolve around the idea of fatherhood and family, some more abstractly than others. Although they could not be more deliberate the installations communicate the distinct feeling of having already been altered by time. This is due both to the found objects Fletcher often employs as well as the delicate way he assembles them. Detailed, intimate and in a seemingly transient state Fletcher's subjects are often ambiguous, and the small scale of his photographs entice one to look more carefully and consider the image further. It is impossible not to think of memory, always changing depending on our perspective. Yet whilst the subject matter appears ephemeral, the materiality of the photograph reinforces its permanence, cementing in time what would otherwise be fleeting.
Saul Fletcher (b.1967, Barton, UK). Important shows include The Imminence of Poetics, 30th Sao Paulo Biennale (2012); Portrait of the Artist As...,The Courtauld Institute of Art, London (2012); Focal Points: Art and Photography, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester (2012); Spirit Level, curated by Ugo Rondinone at Gladstone Gallery, NY (2012); Painters Panting, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, GA (2012); CCS Bard Hessel Museum, NY (2011); Saints and Sinners, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, MA (2009); Disappearances, Shadows and Illusions, Miami Art Museum, FL (2008); Rings of Saturn, Tate Modern, London (2008); Traum und Traum, MUMOK, Vienna (2007) and the 4th Berlin Biennial (2006). His work is in numerous museum collections including The Arts Council Collection, London; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; DESTE Foundation, Athens; Guggenheim, New York and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
21 November - 20 December 2014
These lucky finds- things and persons apparently passing before a kind of camera trap that freezes them in their natural habitat only seem to grow in significance when set against the implacability of the wall face, a surface whose material history and psychic weather Fletcher knows intimately. From one to another, the tiny images unfold into a weirdly free-form seriality, and the concentrated mindfulness required to identify not just the state of the objects but also the literal and figurative condition of the wall starts to feel like an act of devotion. - Jeffrey Kastner, Artforum
Alison Jacques Gallery is proud to present our third solo exhibition of new work by Saul Fletcher.
Fletcher began his practice by taking photographs of sculptural assemblages on his London studio wall. Layered thick with peeling paint the history of the wall became part of the installations, created by the artist in situ. In this series Fletcher extends this practice to his studio in Berlin. Set against a comparatively stark background, small drips, smudges and splatters are still apparent on the wall's surface, situating the arrangements in space with only slight suggestions of what lies beyond.
The photographs in this exhibition revolve around the idea of fatherhood and family, some more abstractly than others. Although they could not be more deliberate the installations communicate the distinct feeling of having already been altered by time. This is due both to the found objects Fletcher often employs as well as the delicate way he assembles them. Detailed, intimate and in a seemingly transient state Fletcher's subjects are often ambiguous, and the small scale of his photographs entice one to look more carefully and consider the image further. It is impossible not to think of memory, always changing depending on our perspective. Yet whilst the subject matter appears ephemeral, the materiality of the photograph reinforces its permanence, cementing in time what would otherwise be fleeting.
Saul Fletcher (b.1967, Barton, UK). Important shows include The Imminence of Poetics, 30th Sao Paulo Biennale (2012); Portrait of the Artist As...,The Courtauld Institute of Art, London (2012); Focal Points: Art and Photography, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester (2012); Spirit Level, curated by Ugo Rondinone at Gladstone Gallery, NY (2012); Painters Panting, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, GA (2012); CCS Bard Hessel Museum, NY (2011); Saints and Sinners, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, MA (2009); Disappearances, Shadows and Illusions, Miami Art Museum, FL (2008); Rings of Saturn, Tate Modern, London (2008); Traum und Traum, MUMOK, Vienna (2007) and the 4th Berlin Biennial (2006). His work is in numerous museum collections including The Arts Council Collection, London; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; DESTE Foundation, Athens; Guggenheim, New York and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.